The Australian Film Institute (AFI) was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry. It is responsible for producing Australia's premier film and television awards, the annual AFI Awards.[1]
The work of the institute is supported by government funding, corporate sponsors and approximately 10,000 members nationally. As Australia's foremost motion picture industry association, AFI promotes the Australian film and television industry and plays a central role in the way in which the Australian film industry is known and understood, both locally and internationally.[1]
In the 1970s, the AFI played a prominent part in reviving the Australian film industry and in convincing the government to invest in the creation of the Experimental Film Fund, a film school, and a corporation for advancing feature film production. The year 1976 marked the first time that the AFI Awards, which had been given since 1958, were televised. Ten years later, television categories were added to the awards. A recent focus of the organisation has been on helping to develop the careers of Australian film artists, through the AFI Fellowship and AFI Documentary Trailbrazer programs, as well as with the AFI Young Film Actor Award.[1]
The AFI is affiliated with the Los Angeles Australian Film & Television Association.
In August 2011, AFI formed a subsidiary professional organisation, the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts.[2]
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The AFI Research Collection is a significant non-lending, specialist film and television industry resource. The collection operates under the auspices of Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology's School of Media and Communication in conjunction with the Australian Film Institute. The Collection has particular strengths in screen history and theory and in Australian cinema, and features a diverse range of books, journals, film scripts, film directories, reports and film festival catalogues.[3]
AFI History http://www.shiningalight.net/ See: 'Shining a Light: 50 Years of the Australian Film Institute' by Lisa French and Mark Poole (published by ATOM, November, 2009)
Shining a Light: 50 Years of the Australian Film Institute provides an illuminating and captivating ride through Australia’s film history through the prism of the Australian Film Institute. The book traces the history of the AFI from its beginnings and demonstrates how instrumental the AFI has been in nurturing the revival of the Australian film industry. Utilizing extensive archival research, and broad consultation, including 27 original interviews with key industry players involved with the AFI since the 1950s (including Dr George Miller, Phillip Adams and Barry Jones), the book makes a major contribution to Australian screen history through the testimony of those who were there, observers and historians, who offer readers an understanding of Australian film history from a never before told AFI ‘insiders’ perspective. Written with candour, insight and a thorough analysis of the context set by the film and television industry in Australia over five decades, it provokes readers with its central polemic, that the development of a healthy screen culture is essential to the production of a successful production industry, and that the AFI should be recognised for its vital contribution to Australian film culture over half a century.
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